The Soul Sphere: Book 01 - The Shattered Sphere by David Adams Page A

monster?” Lucien asked.
    “Froze the water in it. A parlor trick when the spell is learned, but a bit more difficult against what we faced yesterday. If it been a bit stronger, or a bit quicker…” Her words trailed off as she pondered what might have been. “No matter. It is over now. We should focus on our next step.”
    “Are you strong enough to find the next piece of the Sphere?” Rowan asked.
    She looked almost embarrassed. “Better to wait another day. I fear you may have to carry me again if I cast another spell so soon. Have we traveled back the way we came?”
    “In general, yes.”
    “Then we should keep on until we exit the swamp. Even if we need to move north again, we’ll make better time over solid ground, and we’ll need supplies.”
    “What of the pieces we have?” asked Demetrius.
    Tala reached into the pouch on her belt and a pocket in her pants, removing a piece of the Soul Sphere from each. She held them before her, as if weighing one against the other. “I am of two minds about these,” she stated.
    “How so?”
    “I would like to place them together, to be certain they will re-assemble and heal, as legend says they will. But I also would like us to keep the pieces separate as much as we can, perhaps even have different people carry them.”
    “In case something happens to one of us?”
    “In part. What I really fear is drawing the attention of the Dark One.”
    Rowan frowned at that. “He would know if we re-formed two of the shards?”
    Tala shrugged. “I do not know. Nor do I know if or when he may find that we killed one of his pets. He may know nothing, or he may already be sending his minions this way.”
    “That’s comforting,” Corson said, as he joined the others in looking at the surrounding terrain and the sky above, as if Tala’s words were notes of impending doom.
    “I say we put them together,” Demetrius said. “Before we face another test like the one we just had, I’d like to know the Sphere can be renewed.”
    “Agree,” Lucien said. “I will die if I must to defeat Solek, but not want to die for nothing.”
    Tala still hesitated.
    “We will draw his attention soon enough, I fear,” Rowan said. “Perhaps we can give him a reason to fear us as well.”
    Tala’s gaze turned to Corson. She wanted them all in one accord.
    “If it works,” Corson said, “maybe I can convince my ribs that it was worth the pain.”
    “Very well,” she sighed. She studied the piece in her left hand a moment, spun it around to line up with the one she held in her right, and then cautiously brought them together.
    The pale green glow that emanated from them increased and faded as they were drawn together, like a softly strumming heartbeat. As the two shards came together a brighter light illuminated the crack where they met, a yellow shimmer that blazed from inside both halves of the crystal. For an instant the crack shone as if the sun were behind it trying to peek through. When the moment passed, Tala studied the new object carefully. She tried to pull it apart, to bend it, to break it or twist it, but it resisted all such efforts. “It is one piece now, with no sign that there was ever a break.”
    They took a brief moment to congratulate themselves and wonder over it, and to give thanks. It was Demetrius whose face fell first.
    “So small still…” He had not intended the others to hear, but they did. He went on, sorry that he had attracted their attention. “The two combined make little more than a third of a hemisphere.”
    “Closer to a quarter,” Corson said.
    “We do not know the size of the other pieces,” Tala told them, hoping to lift their spirits. “And the lost shard King Rodaan had is said by legend to be the smallest.”
    “It is of no consequence,” Demetrius said, trying to sound more cheerful than he felt. “We have had luck and success so far. It is only a matter of how much more success we need to have.”
    “And how long until Solek